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Headlight Herald TILLAMOOKHEADLIGHTHERALD.COM • FEBRUARY 13, 2013

LONGEST RUNNING BUSINESS IN TILLAMOOK COUNTY • SINCE 1888

Opposition growing to proposed PUD line BY MARY FAITH BELL mfbell@countrymedia.net An group of landowners and concerned citizens is organizing to fight the proposed Tillamook Public Utilities District (PUD) transmission line from Tillamook to Oceanside. The PUD plans to build a high-voltage 115kV (kilovolt) line that would travel east to west through Tillamook along Front Street. The PUD has already surmounted the first hurdle in the building process. On Jan. 3 the Tillamook City Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit (#CU-12-04) for the PUD. Don Aufdermauer, whose family COURTESY PHOTO

Spider Hyde, 8, of Nehalem, on the unicycle he bought with wages he earned as an extra on the TV show Portlandia.

Spider’s got the acting bug

do not, but are concerned about it. People pledged time, support and money to oppose the transmission line. The group has started a petition asking the Tillamook City Council to deny the PUD’s application in appeal. The community can sign the petition at Rosenberg’s. In the 2 hour-long meeting a number of concerns were voiced including the fact that many landowners along Front Street said that they were not informed about the proposed transmission line until Don Aufdermauer talked to them; there is very limited available land within the city limits zoned “light industrial,” and the proposed transmission line easement will

curtail business and the ability to do business on Front Street. It would prohibit a business or farm from rebuilding beneath the power line, for example, in the event of fire or blow-down in a windstorm. There is concern that the proposed transmission line will dampen the interest of Pelican Pub Brewery, which has announced plans to expand their brewery operation to Tillamook and locate in the light industrial district on Front Street. Dennis Johnson contacted Jeff Schons, Pelican owner, who is on vacation currently. Schons will weigh in on the issue when he returns to Oregon.

Tillamook teen takes pageant title BY MARY FAITH BELL

See PUD, Page A9

Road bond proposed for May ballot

mfbell@countrymedia.net

BY MARY FAITH BELL mfbell@countrymedia.net

Spider Hyde, 8, of Nehalem, made his professional acting debut recently on the television series Portlandia, “Season 3, episode 5,” said Spider’s proud mom, Amy Hyde. Spider’s appearance as an “extra” on Portlandia came about as a result of a conversation Spider had with his mom about what he wants to be when he grows up.

See SPIDER, Page A9

Correction In Feb. 6 “criminal convictions,” we reported that Travis Allen Bunnell pleaded guilty to “Conspiracy to Commit, Murder, Treason, or a Class A Felony – Deliver Heroin," a direct quote from Bunnell's court records. Bunnell in fact pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit a Class A Felony – Deliver Heroin, as well as Unlawful Delivery of Heroin. We apologize for the error.

INDEX Classified Ads......................B5-8 Crossword Puzzle....................A8 Fenceposts...........................B3-4 Letters......................................A4 Obituaries................................A6 Opinions..................................A4 Sports ..............................A10-12

1908 2nd St. 503-842-7535 www.TillamookHeadlightHerald.com

Vol. 124, No. 7 $1.00

owns a farm that will be affected by the transmission line, testified before the planning commission in opposition to the proposed line. The planning commission approved the conditional use permit: Tammy Jacobs voted no, Jan Stewart-Wells, Steve Fladstol, Nick Hahn, Ray Jacobs and Aaron Palter voted yes. Aufdermauer and Dennis Johnson, who owns CoastWide Ready-Mix, located on Front Street, appealed the planning commission’s decision. The two men called a meeting Feb. 7 for concerned landowners and citizens. Fourty people showed up, many who have property along the proposed transmission line, and a number who

Ashley Allen, 16, a Tillamook High School junior, was crowned Miss North Coast’s Outstanding Teen 2013 Feb. 2 at the Seaside Convention Center. Nearly 450 people watched as four local young women were crowned Miss Clatsop County 2013, Miss North Coast 2013, Miss Clatsop County’s Outstanding Teen 2013, and Miss North Coast’s Outstanding Teen 2013 and nearly $6,600 in scholarships were awarded. Ashley, who was also named Miss Congeniality among teen contestants, will receive $425 towards her college education for her efforts, and her title qualifies her to compete in the Miss Oregon Teen pageant in June. This was Ashley’s second year competing, and her first title. She entered the competition last year at her mother’s suggestion. “After being in the program last year, interviewing with strangers and being on stage, I felt so much more self-confident, it was really amazing.” Pageant programs are rigorous training ground for young women who are going places, and Ashley is no exception. She will graduate from high school this spring, a year early, and attend George Fox College next fall to study pre-med as a 17 yearold freshman. Ashley wants to be a Medical Examiner. “It’s like a puzzle,” she said of the science of forensics. “You have to know everything about the human body, and that fascinates me. It also appeals to me to think of bringing closure to families who have lost someone.” In her sophomore year Ashley started taking college classes at Tillamook Bay Community College (TBCC). She’ll have enough credits to graduate from high school a year early because she’s taken so many extra classes, beyond her high school requirements.

BY JOE WRABEK jwrabek@countrymedia.net

can represent the community.” Ashley’s platform is Habitat for Humanity. She chose Habitat because she believes in the program and in her ability to champion it. Her goal is to inspire the community to become involved with Habitat for Humanity, one nail at a time.

The Sustainable Roads Committee will be requesting on Feb. 22 that the county place a roads bond issue on the ballot, chairman Jon Carnahan told county commissioners Wednesday (Feb. 6). The measure would be on the May 2013 election ballot. Carnahan noted road bond issues have been on the ballot before, in 1999 and 2011, failing both times (though narrowly the last time, he said). The measure the committee is proposing this time around is different, Carnahan said. They’re recommending asking voters to approve $15 million, but in two separate bond sales, five years apart – in 2013 and 2018. That means “we can spend $1.5 million a year and do work every year,” he said. “And it saves money on interest.” The bond issue won’t be the only road-financing mechanism, either, Carnahan said. “The taxpayers believe someone else should pay,” he noted. “We have an obligation to help, but the roads are used by more than us.” That message was clear from the public meetings the Sustainable Roads Committee held in north and south county, and in Tillamook, he said. That prompted a search for “additional resources” that would supplement the bond issue. Carnahan didn’t specify what the “additional resources” might be, but did say one of the options the committee had considered was a county-wide transient room tax. (Transient room taxes, or TRT -- a sales tax on hotel and motel rooms and sometimes RV spaces – are paid by the people staying there.) “We started with the idea of a TRT,” he said. Most of the cities in Tillamook County have one, he noted, and the state collects a 1% TRT from everybody, so “it was easy to calculate” what a county-wide tax would bring in.

See TEEN, Page A3

See ROAD, Page A3

DON ANDERSON/THE DAILY ASTORIAN

Ashley Allen of Tillamook being crowned Miss North Coast’s Outstanding Teen 2013 by 2012 titleholder, Hannah Bacon. Ashley competed in the pageant program again this year because it was good experience for her last year, and she likes to push herself. “I had to have a talent,” she said, “and I chose dancing. But I’m not a dancer. I didn’t even know how to dance. So I hired a choreographer and I worked three hours a day for a month. I worked really hard.” She performed a

dance to “Diamonds” by Rihanna. “I practiced walking, and speaking, and I had to get really knowledgeable for my interview. Some people think a pageant is just a beauty contest, but it’s a lot more than that. Talent and interviewing ability make up 70 percent of your total score. Title holders have to be good at public speaking, well rounded and someone who

OTRA hears rails and trails analysis BY JOE WRABEK jwrabek@countrymedia.net The audience for the Oregon Tillamook Railroad Authority (OTRA) meeting Feb. 5 included a number of representatives from bicycling, hiking and other outdoor groups, attracted by the promise of presentations by Oregon State Parks’ Tim Woods , who’s been working on a “Rails and Trails” analysis, and by J.J. Thompson of the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad. Woods’ analysis had divided the railroad into four segments: (1) from Tillamook to Wheeler, where the railroad is still in use; (2) from Wheeler

to Enright, in the Coast Range; (3) from Enright to Cochran, the “Salmonberry Corridor” where most of the 2007 damage occurred; and (4) Cochran to Banks. Part of the railroad near Banks is still in use, too, serving Banks Lumber Company. (The Portland & Western Railroad is doing that, Bradley said. POTB has no rolling stock on that side of the mountains.) Restoring the railroad between Banks and Cochran would be “moderately difficult,” Woods told attendees, though building a trail would be easy. Similarly, having both the railroad and a trail in the segment between Wheeler and

Enright would be extremely difficult because of the limitations of the right-of-way. It was in the Salmonberry Corridor that building either rail or rail-and-trail would be extremely difficult, he said – “there are lots of washouts and landslide issues.” However, “we could incorporate the trestles into the trail,” he said. The difficulty (and cost) of building a trail increases depending on who’s going to use it: a trail that would be used only by hikers is easier to build than one that would also be used by bikers and horseback riders.

See TRAIL, Page A9

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COURTESY PHOTO

Part of the POTB railroad line in the Salmonberry Corridor, damaged in the 2007 winter storm. The rail line will not be repaired, but a trail may be built adjacent to it.

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